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I think caramel and apples are one of the best possible combinations. When I was younger my mom sometimes packed that Margetti caramel apple dip and some sliced apples in my lunch. As an adult I don’t really allow myself to buy things like that for fear that I will just sit on the couch and eat it with a spoon. I don’t have a lot of will power.

But these caramel apple cupcakes are a perfect compromise! I planned on making them for the May beer dinner since the theme was iPAlooza and apple pie and IPA is supposed to be a good combination. Since I had served apple pie in the fall, I wanted something different. (I also tried these Apple Tartlets which were good!) The cupcakes ended up being suppppppper moist and the caramel flavored frosting amazing!

Shockingly, this is one recipe of mine that doesn’t start with creaming together the butter and sugar! Start by mixing together the sugars, vanilla, and eggs. Then, add some vegetable oil.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Slowly combine the two, along with the milk.

Then, add in the applesauce. I liked that this recipe used applesauce instead of apples – it was quicker and easier, plus I think the applesauce contributed to the high moisture content!

Finally, distribute the mix into muffin tins and bake!

For the frosting, I basically eyeballed it. I think I used two sticks of butter and about 3.5 cups of powdered sugar. Then, instead of adding milk, I added about half a jar of Trader Joe’s salted caramel sauce (adding the milk, too, threw off the consistency of the frosting). Top the cupcakes with frosting and enjoy!

Now I’m a girl who loves chocolate. And a girl who loves cake. But oddly, I don’t really like chocolate cake. The idea of throwing chili powder into a baked good, though, was enough to get me to try a Mexican Hot Chocolate cupcake recipe.

I originally stumbled upon a recipe at The Little Kitchen which called for baking the cupcakes in ramekins (of which I have a ton!) but I decided if I was going to make this recipe for my April beer dinner I wanted to go with a more traditional cupcake. A little Google searching later and I found an easy to follow recipe at The Dough Will Rise Again.

First, like all good recipes, you cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar.

I’m always a little tempted to stop baking at this point in a recipe and just eat the sugar and butter but I don’t think even I can justify that.

So press on and add the egg and vanilla.

In a separate bowl you’re going to mix together the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, salt, cayenne, cinnamon and chili powder! This part was weird because as I was adding the spices all I could think about was how I’m pretty sure I used these exact same spices in my chili recipe a few weeks ago.

Next you have to add the dry mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture, alternating with buttermilk. My buttermilk was semi-frozen (I had leftovers from another recipe and decided to freeze portioned out containers) but it worked fine. The mix was pretty stiff before adding the buttermilk.

Finally, plop that batter in a muffin tin! Here is where I always make a mess and one of the reasons I generally avoid cupcakes.

Bake!

Next comes the frosting. The recipe calls for a cream cheese-cinnamon frosting. I was a little uneasy about this combination but it was pretty intriguing. You start by whipping the cream cheese and butter, then add the powdered sugar and cinnamon.

Now in the recipe I was following they used a fancy piping bag to make cool swirls but I just spread mine on (and halved the frosting recipe, by the way). Despite my lack of frosting refinement, I think I ended with a pretty beautiful final product!

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture and combine, then add half the buttermilk. Continue alternating adding the dry ingredients and buttermilk, mixing until combined after each addition.

Fill prepared muffin tins 2/3 of the way and bake at 325 degrees for 18-20 minutes (may need a little longer).